Elder fraud | Spotting 'untrustworthy' faces may be harder with age

11:03 AM,
Dec. 5, 2012

Illustration

Written by

Elizabeth Norton
| ScienceNOW

Despite long experience with the ways of the world, older people are especially vulnerable to fraud. According to the Federal Trade Commission, up to 80 percent of scam victims are over 65. One explanation may lie in a brain region that serves as a built-in crook detector. Called the anterior insula, this structure - which fires up in response to the face of an unsavory character - is less active in older people, possibly making them less cagey than younger folks, a new study finds.

Both FTC and the Federal Bureau of Investigation have found that older people are easy marks due in part to their ...

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